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Show 46 DOMESTIC CATS. CHAP. I. in countries completely separated from each other, we meet .w.ith broods more or less distinct; and these cases are worth g1vmg as showino- that tho scarcity of distinct races in the same country is not cau~ed by a deficiency of variability in the animal. The tail-less cats of the Isle of :M:an are said to differ from common cats not only in the want of a tail, but in the great~r len~th of their hind legs, in the size of their heads, and I~ habits. The Creole cat of Antigua, as I am informed by l\1r. N1cholson, is smaller, and has a more elongated head, than the British cat. In Ceylon, as :Mr. Thwaites writes to me, every one at first notices the different appearance of the native cat from the English animal; it is of small size, w: th closely lying hairs; its head is small, with a receding forehead; but the ears arc large and sharp ; altogetho~· it has what is there called a " low-caste" appearance. Rongger 89 says that the domestic cat, which has boon bred for 300 years in Paraguay, presents a striking difference from the European cat ; it is smaller by a fourth, has a more lanky body, its hair is short, shining, scanty, and lies close, especially on the tai1 : he adds that the change bas been less at Ascension, tho capital of Paraguay, owing to the continual crossing with newly imported cats ; and this fact well illustrates the importance of separation. The conditions of life in Paraguay appear not to be highly favourable to the cat, for, though they have run half-wild, they do not become thoroughly feral, like so many other European animals. In another part of South America, according to Roulin/0 the introduced cat has lost the habit of utte~·ing its hideous nocturnal howl. The Rev. W. D. Fox purchased a cat in Portsmouth, which he was told came from the coast of Guinea; its skin was black and wrinkled, fur bluish-grey aud short, its ears rather bare, logs long, and whole aspect peculiar. This " negro" cat was fertile with common cats. On the oppoRite coast of Africa, at l\1ombas, Captain Owen, R.N.,91 states that all the cats are covered with short stiff hair instead of fur : he gives a curious account of a cat from Algoa Bay, which had been kept for some time on board and could be identified with certainty; this 89 'Saeugcthicre von Paraguay,' 1830, 34G. Gomara fil'st noticed this fact in 8. 212. 1554. 90 ':M:em. presentes par divers Savans: 91 'Narrative of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. Acad. Roy. des Sciences,' tom. vi. p. 180. CIIAP.I. TIIEIR VARIATION. 4.7 animal was left foi: only eight weeks at M . short period it " underwe n t a comp1 e te mometbaa s, buht du. rmhg that parted with its sandy-coloured fur·" A mf orp OSis, aving G d I . cat rom th C oo lop.e has been described by De smarest as re ke bla pf e of a red stnpe extonclino- along th h l 1 mar a e rom Throughout an immen:e area na e 1 w o e ength of its back. Siam, Pogu and Burma< h ' 11 mthe y, the Malayan archipelago, b ' ' a o cats ha t a out half tho proper length 92 ft . h < ve runcated tails d I ' 0 en mt a sort of k t en · n the Caroline ar.c h l·p e1 a go the t h no at tho legs, and are of a reddish yell . l ca s ave very long h - ow co our 93 I Ch' as droop in o- ears. \ t T b ] 1 . · n ma a breed o r o o s r, accordmg t G I' red-coloured breed. I A . 1 ° me m, there is a A n Sia, a so we fir d th ngora or Persian breed. ' 1 e well-known The domestic cat has run 'vild . h m several cou t . · d w ere assumes as far as ca b . d n nes, an every-descriptions, a ~niform charac~er e i; ged by the short recorded I shot one which seemed e~'fect~ar ~aldo~ado, in La Plata, examined by Mr. vVaterhous p94 h y wild; It was carefully in. it, excepting its great size~' I: ~found nothing remarkable Dwffenbach, the feral cats ew Zealand, according to of wild cats; and this is t::s~me a ~treaky grey colour like that Scotch Highlands. ase with the half-wild cats of the vVe have seen that distant countries . . races of the cat Th 1'A' possess chstmct domestic . e c Iuerences rna b . from several aboriginal spe . yl e m part clue to descent I c1es or at ea t t . n some cases as I·n p ' s 0 crosses With them . ' araguay, Momb . · differences seem due to tl d' . as, and AntJgua the f 1' 1e trect actJOn of d'ffi ' o Ife. In other cases some I' ht ffi I erent conditions buted to natural selection ass Itg . e ect may possibly be attri- ' ca s m many c h support themselves and to esca . ases ave largely to owing to the difficulty of .. pe diverse dangers. But man patrmg c t h d ' methodical selection ; and ro babl a s, . as one nothing by selection; though in each l~tter h y very httle by unintentional e generally saves the prettiest n ' . J. Crawfurd, 'Dcscript. Diet. of tl Ind1an Islands,' p. 255. Tl 10 gascar t · . le Madat .l . ca Js Sald to have a twisted M al . see Dcsmarcst, in ' Encyclop N t amm ' 1820 · a · th b ., ' p. 233, for some of the o er reeds. 93 Admirnl LutkC's Voyn"'c vol ... b ' • lll. p. 308. 94 ' Zoology of the Beao-le Mam al' , Voyage of the 'T .b 'l . m In., p. 20. Dieffenbach laves m New Zealand' v l .. ' 185. Oh. St. John 'WildS o. n. p. Hi,.hlands' 1846 ' ports of the b ' 'p. 40. |